Talon Coin
by BellatrixLestrangey
Summary: Swan Queen Week day 4; Soulmarkers After casting her soulpiece away in an impulsive fit, Regina finds out that Emma has the other half. (This one is left more open-ended because I can see it as something I could turn into a chapter fic.)


It is little more than a beaten coin. Supposedly it is meant to help her find her soulmate. But Regina has long since give up on that. She resents it anyways, she thinks that it had a hand in the killing of Daniel. Daniel had his own soul trinket. A dream catcher with a crescent moon. Regina knew that she wasn't the full moon counterpart, she didn't even have a dream catcher. But she had told him that she was, she didn't care who the true full moon was, who his real soulmate was. Perhaps his death was the price of her selfishness, but why had he paid it and not her? Neverland gives Regina a lot of time to dwell on this. To hate herself for it.

She flips the coin in her hand and stares at the dragon claw engraved into it. The desire to chuck it into the bushes takes over. She watches it glint, briefly for a moment before as it catches in the sun before it pings to the ground out of sight and out of mind.

Or maybe not. She folds her jacket and lays it on the ground, hoping that it will make a sufficient pillow. As she tries to catch some sleep she can't seem keep her mind off of the coin. She doesn't know of anyone else who has tossed theirs. Had that been a mistake, what does it mean exactly to discard one's soulmarker. Does she even need it so long as she knows what it looks like? She is beginning to regret her impulsive decision.

Everyone else seems to be asleep so she makes her way to the bushes. Maybe she can find it. It couldn't have gotten far, who was around to pick it up after all? She ignites a small flame in her palm and shows it on the ground, if she is lucky the shiny metal with reflect the firelight. But when has she ever been a woman of luck. The fire seems to pick up nothing. She is getting desperate and resorts to searching the area around the bushes on her hands and knees. She swears that she hadn't flicked the coin that far. Forgetting momentarily that she had dirtied them, she runs her hands through her hairline and groans to herself.

Once again, she'd be feeling the consequences of her own doing. Silently she hoped to herself that the coin itself wasn't what mattered. She returns, empty handed, to her jacket and tries to get comfy. She sniffs to herself, yeah right.

She makes a promise to herself to rise early and continue her search when there is more light. But that endeavor proves to be just as fruitless. How could the coin just disappear? _Because it is Neverland_ , she answers her own question.

She isn't ready to leave when Hook declares that it is probably best to get a move on. If she left now then she'd never find her way back to this spot and her odds of finding her soulmaker will be even slimmer. She wants to protest but Henry. She couldn't waste any time, couldn't possibly choose a foolish coin over him. So she bids her chance at a soulmate a reluctant farewell.

It takes her aback when Emma stands in front of everyone and askes, "who dropped this." Between her fingers she holds Regina's soulpiece. The familiar talon shimmers in the sunlight. "I found it the other day.

Regina is afraid to speak up. Surely Emma will make a game of keeping it away from her if she finds out that it is hers. She is going to have to steal it back.

"It doesn't belong to anyone here?" Her brows furrow. "Neal?"

"Not mine." Neal shrugs.

"Hook?" She offers. "Pirates like gold."

Hook chuckles. "I mean it isn't mine but I wouldn't mind holding onto it, love."

Emma looks confused, and now Regina is even more determined to hold her silence. Swan seems all too interested in the coin for it to not hold some significance to her. She hadn't asked if it belonged to her parents.

"Regina?"

"What, Swan?"

"Is it yours?"

"It isn't." Regina lies. "Anyways, it's just a coin, yes?" She already knows but she needs confirmation.

"It's not just a coin Regina. I, well…it matches mine. Or I think it goes with mine." Emma reaches into her pocket and fishes out the thing Regina most dreads to see. Her coin is bronze and on it is etched a dragon wing. "I know that you don't really care but…" she pauses. "My soulmate is on this island somewhere." She turns from Regina. "Are you sure it isn't yours Neal?"

"I am. Mine is a dreamcatcher."

Regina's interest is perked again. "What kind?"

"Oh no." Emma groaned, "don't tell me…"

He holds it up, it is intricate and carefully woven with strings that looked like they were forged from diamond and sapphire. From it drooped a cascade of snowy owl feathers complete with white opal full moons. Regina finds herself absolutely horrified for a second time that morning. She had stolen _his_ soulmate. She had gotten _his_ soulmate killed. Her face grows hot, she anticipated this adventure to be an awkward disaster. But even she couldn't have foreseen being stranded with the man whose soulmate she'd stolen _and_ her own soulmate—a woman who she still resented with about fifty percent of her being.

"Do you have a dream catcher too?" Neal askes.

"No, mine is a necklace." Regina lies. It dawns on her that she doesn't know how Neal is still around and about; if one soulmate dies then the other follows in suite. She thinks at once that Neal doesn't have much longer and she doesn't know how to relay this. She doesn't know that she should.

She has been nothing but selfish up to this point, she decides that it would be easier for her to let the man die and take her mistake with him.

She isn't a good woman.

She proves it to herself time and time again.

She is proving it now by holding her silence.

So how is it that the savior is meant to be hers?

She thinks that maybe it is Emma's destiny to save her dark, cold soul. The thought feels so terribly wrong. She doesn't want to be anyone's responsibility, she doesn't want to be someone's fixer upper. Yet, she can't seem to picture herself fixing her own faults anymore than she can imagine telling Neal that she had gotten his soulmate killed, no matter how innocent her intentions had been.

So when Emma replies almost dejectedly, "well, I guess my soulmate isn't fond of soulmates," Regina doesn't react. Instead she listens to Mary mumbled some sympathetic and reassuring words.

"Maybe they dropped it, they might be looking for it right now." Mary smiles. This is emphasized by David.

Regina can't help but notice how Emma's eyes fall on the twin sword brooches pinned to the pair's shirts. She almost wants to speak up, she does want companionship. But she doesn't want Emma's. Why was she so choosey? Why did it have to be Emma? She watches the savior tuck both coins into her pocket. "I hope so." She mutters.

Regina absently reaches for the coin she just saw Emma slip away. She doesn't know when she'll admit that it is hers, she doesn't know if she will.


End file.
